Four days ago was the 72nd anniversary of a U.S. atomic bomb destroying five square miles of the city of Hiroshima. Yesterday was the 72nd anniversary of the U.S’ atomic bombing of Nagasaki. In five days time from the writing of this post, WWII ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NEA has an excellent set of lesson plans, text resources, images and video to help children understand the events that concluded WWII<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turning the tragic loss of 210000 men, women and children into a positive experience for our youngest patrons is not beyond any of us. And in many ways, I personally feel that the majority of those who perished that fateful week would want our next generation to understand the positive and constructive uses for nuclear energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are on the cusp of a major eclipse, and there’s no better time while children are excited about astronomy to tell them all about the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It’s heart if a nuclear battery, decaying uranium, which has powered its mission beyond the edge of our solar system. Interestingly enough, the craft weighs as much as the average 11 year old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nuclear batteries have powered 22 American space missions and will power more in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out NASA’s amazing interactive diagram of the Voyager 2 spacecraft:\u00a0https:\/\/www.jpl.nasa.gov\/voyager\/mission\/spacecraft\/<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesson:\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>Atomic Candy<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this activity developed by the Science House at North Carolina State University, students in grades 5 – 11 will\u00a0use M&Ms to learn about radioactivity, the rate at which an isotope decays, and the concept of half-life. They will count and record the number of decayed “atoms” and graph the results.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Read More<\/a><\/strong><\/p><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n STEM Careers include nuclear engineers – who incidentally make about $65-$100000\/year – to nuclear medicine. Let’s not forget that without nuclear medicine, we could not have access to the incredible medical imaging we have today. Check out some of the careers at CareerKids.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, you want to build your own nuclear reactor. Well, we’re going to have to cover a few topics first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 nuclear fission Good thing there’s this handy video to explain it all!<\/p>\n\n\n\nVoyager<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Nuclear Careers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Nuclear Reactor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 the chain reaction in a nuclear reactor
\u2022 electricity generation in a nuclear power plant
\u2022 safety of the reactor and nuclear waste
\u2022 arguments both for and against nuclear power
\u2022 financing the building of a nuclear power plant<\/p>\n\n\n\n